How Do Bone Conduction Headphones Work and Do They Cause Hearing Impaired?

First of all, the conclusion is that bone conduction headphones do not cause hearing impaired,which is determined by their working principle. In this article, I will completely introduce what bone conduction headphones are, how they work, why they do not cause hearing impaired,and recommend several headphones with the least hearing impaired.

As the name suggests, bone conduction headphones are headphones designed based on bone conduction technology.

Bone conduction is a sound conduction method. The vibration of the sound source drives the bone to vibrate, and then transmits the sound to the inner ear, so that the sound can be heard. It transmits sound without passing through the air and eardrum, which also enables the sound transmission way of bone conduction to clearly restore the sound in a noisy environment, and will not affect others due to the spread of sound waves in the air.

The technology of bone conduction is very mature. In the 18th century, Beethoven used bone conduction technology to hear the sound of piano performance. We all know that music genius Beethoven was deaf in both ears. In order to hear the sound, he bit the baton with his mouth and put the other end of the baton on the piano when he was playing. The vibrations of the piano are transmitted through the baton to his teeth and bones, and then to the inner ear. This method helped Beethoven to hear the sound of the piano, and he also created a large number of well-known piano pieces.

Bone conduction technology has a wide range of applications. It has been used more in the military field and hearing assistance field in the past. But in recent years, this technology has been widely used in bone conduction headphones, making this headphone a fashionable product and becoming popular.

To understand how bone conduction headphones work, we must first understand how we hear sound.

Simply put, sound is a vibration, and the source of sound can cause air, liquid, and solid to vibrate. The sound we hear everyday is this vibration into the ear, so the eardrum vibrates. The vibration of the eardrum passes through the ear ossicles to the part behind the ear called "cochlea". The cochlea then transmits sound information from the cochlea to the brain center, and finally we hear it. The process by which we hear sound includes both air vibration and solid (bone) vibration.

The principle of bone conduction headphones is that they transmit sound not through air vibrations, but all through solid (bone) vibrations. The sound unit is usually attached to the temple, and emits mechanical vibrations. The skull transmits the vibrations to the cochlea that in turn transmits the sound information to the brain center, so the sound is heard.

The sound transmission path of bone conduction headphones is that: sound waves, skull, bone labyrinth, inner ear lymph, spiral organ, auditory nerve, cerebral cortex auditory center. Compared with our traditional way of hearing sound (that is air conduction method), their transmission path is shorter, where air and the eardrum are no longer needed. So they can play a significant protective role to the eardrum, and are a very healthy kind of headphones.

Bone conduction headphones are usually less harmful to the ears, but if used for a long time and at excessive volume, hearing damage can occur.

Since bone conduction headphones do not need to be plugged into the ear canal when worn, they will not cause damage to the ear due to wearing them. They transmit sound without passing through the ear canal and eardrum, which avoids eardrum damage caused by vibrating the eardrum.

When the bone conduction headphones are used, the ear canal is kept open, which is important for the hygiene of the ear. And they will not cause the ear canal to be wet and stuffy to breed bacteria due to sweat depositing caused by long-term exercise, thereby avoiding hearing impaired by diseases such as otitis media.

In addition to small damage to the ear canal and eardrum, bone conduction headphones also have very little damage to the inner ear. Due to the relatively gentle and stable vibrating waves of the headphones, they have little damage to the cochlea. Moreover, the electromagnetic waves of them are very small, and their impact on the auditory nerve and brain nerve is also very small.

Therefore, bone conduction headphones will not cause hearing impaired, they protect hearing completely, from the ear canal, eardrum, cochlea to auditory nerves, etc..They are the healthiest kind of headphones.

For hearing protection, when using bone conduction headphones, remember not to use high volumes for a long time, which can cause hearing impaired . In fact, no matter what kind of headphones you wear, long-term use at high volume will definitely cause damage to hearing. It is generally recommended that after using headphones for 2-3 hours, you should rest for 10-15 minutes.

In addition to very little damage to the ears, bone conduction headphones are also very safe. They allow you to listen to music when you can also hear the surrounding environment sounds, which avoids outdoor sports encounters danger. And they are also very comfortable to wear. It is with these advantages that they are becoming more and more popular.

Next, I would like to recommend some bone conduction headphones with the least hearing impaired , hoping to help you select the right headphones.

Reason for recommendation:

I noticed Wissonly bone conduction headphones when they were first crowdfunded online. And later, I saw that some otologists were recommending them on online forums, so I bought them. This Hi Runner is their flagship product whose overall functionality is also the most perfect. The headphone use the latest research from the Wissonly lab. It increases the vibrating area of the vibrator by 35% and optimizes the direction of sound transmission to make the sound more concentrated, resulting in a wider range and more spatial of the music. The brand claims that its sound quality is HI-FI level, and I actually tested it myself. I thought that the sound quality was very close to HI-FI level, but it did not reach this level. Of course, the current sound quality is satisfactory enough.

Wissonly Hi Runner bone conduction headphones are also equipped with a new Bluetooth 5.0 chip that has stronger anti-interference ability, that can easily cope with various complex outdoor scenes, and ensures the good mood during exercise is not disturbed by disconnection. At the same time, the stable connection also brings low latency performance, and there is no problem in listening to songs, following dramas, and playing games. What's more, they have 32G of built-in memory that can store 5,000 songs. This helps you to enjoy music when you are exercising outdoors without your phone.

In terms of comfort, the Wissonly Hi Runner performs well, it is very light, only less than 30g, and it does not feel any weight to wear. The body is made of titanium alloy which makes it have a good fit, and you don't need to worry about their falling off during sports.

The waterproof of the Wissonly Hi Runner deserves special mention, and it is IPX8 grade. It means that you can carry it underwater for up to 20 meters and still use it normally, which is crazy!

Reason for recommendation:

The Philips A6606 that weighs 35g is light and compact in the palm of the hand. With the skin-friendly material on the surface of the body, there is no pressure to wear on the pinna. It is equipped with LED night running lights on both sides of the rear end of the body. It can be worn in night walking and low visibility scenes and illuminate the road behind, so that the people around can perceive your own position and respond in time in the face of emergency situations. The safety factor for outdoor wearing is relatively high. It also supports IP67-rated water resistance and can support 9 hours of continuous music playback time, which is also good overall.

Reason for recommendation:

OPENRUN PRO is good at anti-sound-leakage, it uses LeakSlayer leakage cancellation technology to reduce sound leakage. It is equipped with Qualcomm QCC3024 chip that uses 5.0 Bluetooth protocol, that supports dual-device connection, and that performs very well in terms of stability, compatibility, effective range and delay time. It is IP67 waterproof grade, which is enough to allow it to be used in daily life. But you can not wear it to swim in the water. As a high-end bone conduction sports headphones this is still a pity. And it does not have built-in memory, can not be used as an MP3 player.

Reason for recommendation:

It is IP67 waterproof grade, easily resistant to sweat, and even capable of a short immersion underwater, but not suitable for swimming. The lightweight body just weighs 9g,its clip-on wearing method is novel.At the same time,It has a certain stability. But it is not suitable for long-term wear, and there will be a lot of discomfort.

Reason for recommendation:

The Vidonn F3 bone conduction headphones weigh only 29g, and there is no discomfort whether you have it hanging neck or hinging ears for a long time. The ear arm of the bone conduction vibrator is on the outside, leaving space for the glasses leg to pass, which solves the embarrassing situation of not being able to wear glasses when wearing headphones.

The charging port of Vidonn F3 bone conduction headphones is the universal standard MICRO-USB interface. It adopts a soft rubber plug to waterproof, but the soft rubber plug is not connected to the body, there will be a risk of loss. The manufacturer gives two spare soft rubber plugs in the box.

This is an entry-level product, and it's hard to expect good performance in terms of sound quality and leak prevention, but it's enough for everyday use.

I believe that through the above recommendations, you may already know how to choose bone conduction headphones. If you are still confused, it is recommended to choose a brand with good technology accumulation, such as Wissonly and Philips. Philips is a big brand, needless to say, but it is worth emphasizing Wissonly, which has a deep technology accumulation, better configuration, and higher cost performance.